These are the states that could legalize pot next

Marijuana legalization now enjoys majority support in the U.S. -- 52 percent of Americans support legalization, 42 percent oppose it, and 7 percent remain undecided, according to the latest General Social Survey.

So it's useful to have some sense of public attitudes toward marijuana at the state level, especially considering marijuana will be on the ballot in many states in 2016. No polling outlet that I'm aware of has released comprehensive state-level results for attitudes toward marijuana legalization. But the question has been asked in most states by a variety of polling firms in recent years, and I thought it might be useful to compile all those results in once place. So here they are.

Since late 2012, marijuana legalization questions have been asked in at least 38 states. In 25 of those states, majorities supported legalization. In another 5 states, there wasn't majority support for or opposition against legalization -- results were very close, in other words. And in 8 states, majorities opposed legalization.

Methodology is important here. Most of these state results shouldn't be directly compared to each other, which is why I'm simply sorting states into qualitative categories rather than doing a numeric comparison of support. The reason is that question wording across these surveys varies considerably, and we know that question wording has a strong effect on marijuana survey results.

But each of the surveys I included were scientifically conducted by credible polling firms. They offer representative samples of the populations of their respective states. They all ask about support for the full legalization of marijuana -- not just support for medical marijuana, or for decriminalization, but for legalizing recreational use. I've included all the detailed information, including question wording, survey firm, sample size, survey date, and a link to the raw results in a table below, so you can check it out for yourself. For Alaska, D.C. and Oregon, I used the actual results of last fall's ballot initiatives, since those represent the most recent (and most accurate!) barometer of support in those states.

According to Ballotpedia, a legislation-tracking website, legalization initiatives may appear on the ballot in 11 states in 2016, as well as Ohio this year. Among those 12 states, the latest survey results show majority support for legalization in six -- Arizona, California, Nevada, Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio. In two states -- Maine and Missouri -- there isn't a majority for or against legalization. And in four states -- Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana and Wyoming -- state-level polling hasn't been done.

It's important to remember that majority support in a state now doesn't equal sure-fire victory. Some of these measures may not even quality for the ballot. In other cases, voters may sour on the details of specific proposals as they learn more about them. And in just about all of these cases, the public is closely divided between support on opposition.

Even given these caveats, however, it's useful to get an assessment of the lay of the land as we head in to 2016. The full list of state polls is below. Did I miss anything? Let me know.

State

Legalization support (%)

Question wording

Source and link

Sample size

Population surveyed

Date

Alabama

--

Alaska

53

Ballot measure: "This bill would tax and regulate the production, sale, and use of marijuana in Alaska. The bill would make the use of marijuana legal for persons 21 years of age or older. The bill would allow a person to possess, use, show, buy, transport, or grow set amounts of marijuana, with the growing subject to certain restrictions."

"What if Hawaii decided to legalize the use of marijuana by adults and regulated its sale and collected tax money from the sale? … yes, to tax and regulate; or no, to leave marijuana use by afdults a crim?" (percent saying "yes")

"Marijuana use is currently illegal in Indiana. Would you favor or oppose a change in the law that makes marijuana a regulated substance much like the way we regulate the use of alcohol and tobacco products?" (% saying "favor")

"Thinking about the issue in general, to what extent do you personally support or oppose legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana for adults 21 and over? Do you strongly support it, somewhat support it, somewhat oppose it, or strongly oppose it?"

"Since 2012, four states - Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon - have changed their laws to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol for legal use by adults who are 21 and older. Would you support or oppose changing Rhode Island law to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol?" (% saying "support")

"Which comes closer to your view about the use of marijuana by adults? It should be legal for personal use, it should be legal only for medicinal use, or it should not be legal?" (% saying it should be legal for personal use)

"The voters in Colorado and Washington changed their laws to allow marijuana to be regulated similarly to alcohol for adults age 21 and older. Would you support or oppose changing Texas law to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, where stores would be licensed to sell marijuana to adults 21 and older?" (% who "strongly" or "somewhat" support)

"Two states -- Colorado and Washington -- recently changed their laws to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, for legal use by adults age 21 and older. Would you support or oppose changing West Virginia law to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, so stores would be licensed to sell marijuana to adults 21 and older?" (% who support)